Psalm 147.12-20

Psalm 147:12–20 “12 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion! 13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates; he blesses your children within you. 14 He makes peace in your borders; he fills you with the finest of the wheat. 15 He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. 16 He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes. 17 He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs; who can stand before his cold? 18 He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow and the waters flow. 19 He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and rules to Israel. 20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his rules. Praise the Lord!”

The psalmist here is speaking of the praise of the Lord in Jerusalem and around the globe. It is meant to remind us of the universality of God’s care. To tell us that God speaks. God reveals. God sends forth His wisdom and word not just to Israel or even to Jacob, but to the nations and to the very earth itself. What God does in the Bible has universal or global impact, for God is the Creator of all, the Sustainer of all, and the end of all. Paul will echo this in Romans 11, from Him, and through Him and to him are all things.

We see God’s plan to bless the world globally through one small focal point in the birth of Christ.

Scripture says……can anything good come from Nazareth? Eventually, yes, we do read of something good coming from Nazareth, and the word we herald at Christmas is a word of particularity in locality, even as it is a word of universality. It's a gospel that is global in its effect, and yet the most local in its form.

As we worship God this morning let us remember that God love and cares not just for us as individuals. And not just for His community of His people. But for everyone and everything He has made!